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MAX HOUTZAGER :: COLLECTION
I first began taking pictures on family vacations, but then got into it in a serious way after I started snowboarding and surfing, and especially after I started mountain biking competitively. I wanted to capture some of the amazing moments one can experience in these sports and that desire led me down the path to becoming an aspiring photographer. Other key steps on that path were discovering Photoshop in elementary school, taking a fantastic digital media class at Branson, and great subsequent photography classes at Redwood and The RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco. I now take pictures for my sponsors, for the marketing manager of Wilderness Trail Bikes where I work as an intern, for my AP photography class, and socially for fun. I am constantly advancing and learning new things and I hope to continue publishing my work in bigger and better ways. I have been lucky enough to have spent a lot of time doing action sports in epic nature-based locations, like Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Japan, Switzerland, and pretty much every mountain range in the Western United States and Canada. As a result, I am biased towards taking pictures of nature scenes and of the sports themselves. However, for “Here and There,” I wanted to submit work which would provide a strong contrast to Will Patterson’s more bleak semi-abstract black and white photographs of New York - the “There” - so I decided that spontaneous color photographs of teenage life in Marin - the “Here” - would fit that bill. I like that my submitted work tells a lot about the people in it. The shots show people in their usual environment and give a window into their lives. The picture of Andrei for example means a lot to me, because he chooses that same seat in photography class every time, sits there with the same look on his face, and does nothing the whole time (no offense, Andrei). Or the picture of Bridget which shows that she is social and outgoing, and brightens people’s days because she is always smiling (corny but true). I feel that color is most appropriate for this material because the window into my subjects’ lives is wide open. I was able to do a lot more with color, fitting certain aspects of each photograph to people’s personalities. This show was a pleasure for me because it gave me a gateway for showing my best work and it forced me to explore an aspect of photography which I don’t usually focus on. — Max Houtzager |
Max was born in Chicago and grew up there and in London. He moved to Marin in 2001 and graduated from the Ross School in 2007. He is currently a junior at Redwood High School. His primary interests outside of photography are surfing, travel, and mountain biking. Max was on the Branson School mountain biking team and is currently on the Redwood High School team. He is also a member of the Marin based Whole Athlete cycling team and has recently competed in races in Australia and Canada, as well as in the US National Mountain Biking Championship in Colorado.